Breast milk-derived human milk oligosaccharides promote Bifidobacterium interactions within a single ecosystem

Lawson, Melissa A. E., O’Neill, Ian J., Kujawska, Magdalena, Gowrinadh Javvadi, Sree, Wijeyesekera, Anisha, Flegg, Zak, Chalklen, Lisa and Hall, Lindsay J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8938-5709 (2020) Breast milk-derived human milk oligosaccharides promote Bifidobacterium interactions within a single ecosystem. The ISME Journal, 14 (2). pp. 635-648. ISSN 1751-7362

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Abstract

Diet-microbe interactions play an important role in modulating the early-life microbiota, with Bifidobacterium strains and species dominating the gut of breast-fed infants. Here, we sought to explore how infant diet drives distinct bifidobacterial community composition and dynamics within individual infant ecosystems. Genomic characterisation of 19 strains isolated from breast-fed infants revealed a diverse genomic architecture enriched in carbohydrate metabolism genes, which was distinct to each strain, but collectively formed a pangenome across infants. Presence of gene clusters implicated in digestion of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) varied between species, with growth studies indicating that within single infants there were differences in the ability to utilise 2′FL and LNnT HMOs between strains. Cross-feeding experiments were performed with HMO degraders and non-HMO users (using spent or ‘conditioned’ media and direct co-culture). Further 1H-NMR analysis identified fucose, galactose, acetate, and N-acetylglucosamine as key by-products of HMO metabolism; as demonstrated by modest growth of non-HMO users on spend media from HMO metabolism. These experiments indicate how HMO metabolism permits the sharing of resources to maximise nutrient consumption from the diet and highlights the cooperative nature of bifidobacterial strains and their role as ‘foundation’ species in the infant ecosystem. The intra- and inter-infant bifidobacterial community behaviour may contribute to the diversity and dominance of Bifidobacterium in early life and suggests avenues for future development of new diet and microbiota-based therapies to promote infant health.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 28 Aug 2020 00:04
Last Modified: 22 Oct 2022 06:41
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/76677
DOI: 10.1038/s41396-019-0553-2

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